Intel confirms Infineon buy

Intel is looking to shore up its wireless know-how with the purchase of Infineon's division.

It's a move that has been rumoured for weeks, but it wasn't until this week that Intel made it official: the spending spree continues, with the company buying Infineon's wireless division for $1.4 billion.

According to The New York Times, the acquisition - announced officially by Intel head Paul Otellini yesterday following weeks of rumours and speculation by industry watchers - will give Intel's wireless technologies a boost, and mean that the company's chips form part of Apple's successful iPad - although not, to Intel's chagrin, the CPU.

The move comes mere weeks after Intel spent a whopping $7.68 billion buying security specialist McAfee and a further - undisclosed - sum on Texas Instruments' cable modem division, bringing the total value of Intel's acquisitions to over $9 billion in August alone.

Speaking to Fox Business and transcribed over on VentureBeat, Otellini claimed that the decision to purchase Infineon came about due to "the technology they have today, the customer connections they have today, and where the technology in general is going," and explained that Intel's plan is to work towards "a period in the not so distant future where all of these [wireless] functions can be [built] on a single chip."

While Otellini hasn't announced an Atom processor with integrated wireless technology yet, the possibility is there - albeit "farther down the road."

Are you pleased to see Intel looking to expand its wireless know-how, or has Otellini gone spend-happy in an industry that's still trying to claw its way out of the credit crunch? Share your thoughts over in the forums.